For a purpose race tire I really like the Ritchey Zmins. They are the easiest pedaling tire I have ridden which offer at least some traction and cornering grip although minimal. I use these with my Stan's Olympic ZTR Wheelset with American Classic Hubs. I run my Zmin's using Stan's Sealant with no problems. I run about ~37 psi rear and ~33 psi front. The tires grip fairly well up climbs of semi lose top coat over hardpack. Corning is better than other tires I have tried like the Maxxis Maxlite 310’s, which had, zero traction. Kenda's Kozmik Lite tire is equal or maybe slightly better in cornering than the Ritchey Zmin but it also weighs about 60g more.
The tread of the Zmin is a smaller block of the popular Ritchey WCS ZED Race 2.1 which has excellent corning bite. At the pressure I run the tires roll very well and have a decent ride quality keeping good contact and traction with the ground.
They do wear quickly but I get about 3-4 weeks worth of riding on the rear tire. That's about three 20 mile rides a week. I then transfer the front to the rear and install a new front tire saving a little more tread life.
I wish Ritchey would add slightly larger side knobs and slightly larger casing 2.0. There seems to be a void of good race tires in the 400-450g range.
If you are a light weight racer under 175 lbs you should try these tires. They really accelerate quickly and offer some traction. Bottom line a very fast race tire!
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Submitted by
Tick Houk
a Racer
from Los Gatos, CA, USA Date Reviewed: September 5, 2006
Favorite Trail:
jackass trail, henry coe
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Price Paid:
$39.00
Purchased At:
crossroads bicycles
Strengths:
superlight (390gm, measured)
Weaknesses:
tread wears quickly
Similar Products Used:
pretty much every tire out there, over a period of 7 yrs
Bike Setup:
turner flux with Mavic 819 rims & king hubs
Bottom Line:
These are great tires for hardpack racing, although the gains straightline acceleration are slightly offset by the lack of grip cornering in loose terrain. The tread doesn't last very long, which is a bummer. If you want to excel with a given setup you have to train with it, so that means wearing through the tread after only a few weeks. Compared to the lightest dedicated tubeless setup (conti twister pros UST), I was riding 1-2 gears higher, but felt like I bounced around a lot more and had more trouble keeping up the mo. With the UST setup I couldn't accelerate as fast but with the lower pressure (30lbs front & 35 rear) I had a little better climbing and cornering bite, plus I rolled more and bounced less. I used the Ritcheys with light butyl tubes pumped up to 40lbs front, 45 rear. 3 chilis for value only because you'll wear them out quickly. If you have the skill the control them in loose corners you won't find a faster tire.
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